Kate Etue, Author at Cool Mom Tech

Serenity now! A free meditation app offers help for busy modern parents and their kids.

Life can be crazy for me as a working mom of multiple kids. And even though it’s good-crazy, sometimes I really want just a few moments away from the clutter in the living room and the constant pinging of my iPhone to just get a bit of calm back into me. But I...

A free puppet show app to let your kids get creative

by Kate Etue | Fun Apps for Kids

Cate & Levi are the artists behind those gorgeous upcycled hand puppets we’ve seen at craft shows, and higher-end stores like West Elm and Red Envelope. The puppets are locally sourced, upcycled works of art, so how wonderful that they’re taking the...

The Cal Calendar App makes scheduling your crazy life a little more pretty and a lot less crazy.

by Kate Etue | Productivity Apps

I need a calendar app that is going to make it easy to schedule multiple kids in different sports, clubs, dance classes, and music lessons, not to mention my work commitments. Oh yeah, and I’d like to have some time left over for fun. Or at least to just sack...

Endless Reader app: Even more endless love for one of our favorite apps

by Kate Etue | Educational Apps For Kids

We’re huge fans of the Endless Alphabet app around here. I mean, it was created by the same team of people who made Sesame Street’s The Monster at the End of this Book, one of my childhood favorites. So I’m excited they’ve launched the Endless...

What to do with your digital photos? Tons of fantastic ideas

by Kate Etue | Photo Gifts

If you’re like me, you probably have taken upwards of 2,000 photos of your kids, your house, your pet, and even your food in the last year alone. And like me, you’re wondering what to do with your digital photos and hoping you can find a fun, creative way...

Buh-bye compact fluorescents: 3 remarkable light bulb innovations to save you money and energy

by Kate Etue | Smart Appliances

Wow, now here are three new light bulb innovations for the home that Thomas Edison never dreamed would exist. Mainly because he didn’t have a smart phone. Which he probably didn’t dream about either. Lumen TL800 First check out the Lumen TL800 (above)...

Comparing the hot new child friendly entertainment sites online. Which one is right for your kids?

by Kate Etue | Entertainment

Are your kids going as stir crazy as ours are with this Polar Vortex and other crazy weather? We’ve exhausted every board game and put together every puzzle we have in our house. So, TV. And child friendly entertainment on our computers. With more parents...

Foreign language apps for kids get as beautiful (and funny) as we’ve seen with Count the Animals

by Kate Etue | Educational Apps For Kids

Studies (and real life experience) show that kids learn foreign languages so much easier than adults do, which is why there are starting to be so many great foreign language apps for kids. I think it has something about their brains being more plastic. Or maybe...

Wordplay Shakespeare: ebooks that make ye olde Shakespearean text clearer than ever.

by Kate Etue | Educational Apps For Kids

Shakespeare’s plays are some of the most difficult pieces of literature your kids will study in school. English has changed significantly over the last 400 years, so try being 10 and having to know what the Bard meant by phrases like “Fie, my lord, fie, a...

NEW: The podcast that helps you be a savvier digital parent in under 15 minutes a week

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.